Irish government swapping BlackBerry for Apple iPhone and Android models

The Ireland’s House of the Oireachtas is swapping out of BlackBerry into the Apple iPhone or Android models

The Irish government is ending its support for the BlackBerry in a cost-saving measure, and is replacing them with the Apple iPhone and Android flavored handsets. The decision to toss the 'Berrys allows the lower House of the Oireachtas to stop paying for a BlackBerry Enterprise Server when no such server is used for Apple or Android smartphones. A spokesman for the House said, "The provision of support for BlackBerrys carries the additional cost of two separate servers, power, cooling, administration and annual support."

In another change, the House also scrapped plans to buy 300 Apple iPads at a cost of €150,000 ($197,000 USD) and €200,000 ($262,800 USD). Saying that it was too costly, the government got together with Vodafone to purchase the tablets at a wholesale price and will sell them to Senator's and Teachta Dála's in the House of the Oireachtas. The government wants the tablets to be able to "print on demand" parliamentary documents.

The move by the Irish government away from BlackBerry handsets follows similar moves made by governments in the U.S., U.K. and Uganda.

21 Comments

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I just don't see why they would want an iPhone for government officials... It just seems like a fashion accessory.

My girlfriend loves her iPhone 5, but it's UI is soooo basic. I can't stand it. I can't see it as a professional tool unless some fashion designer or something a long those lines has it.

Also, the iPhone 5 is extremely expensive over the competition. If they break them, they will spend more money with just a couple replacements. I think the saving money part was just an excuse for their tax payers to pay for their flashy iPhones.

One driver for government users would probably be the security of the iPhone. The iP5 has arguably the strongest (AES256) security that doesn't require any user interaction (manual encryption/decryption). It happens in the background by the OS. I don't know what BB10 phones will offer as regards security, but if the security features are not the current state of the art, that is probably adding to the pressure to move off BB.

Actually the iPhone would b ideal for govt. it's UI is intuitive, and straight forward. U can bash it all u want, but your opinion is just that...your opinion. I have an ip5, and its a great device, and yes the UI is a little boring, but the government isn't looking for specs and widgets... They look for straight forward performance. U don't like the iPhone...oh well. Lots of people do.

iPhone ui, albeit it's simple, is still very functional
Look at bb ui, Way more boring than ios, you only got all favorites media downloads frequent and that's it

Government officials can't work efficiently using bb, it's outdated and not capable of doing heavy task, can't even open phonearena site without any checkerboard or hourglass even with the flagship bold 9900

I don't understand all these weird timing by various governments switching from Blackberry to Android and iOS devices. I call it weird because Blackberry 10 is coming. What if BB10 comes with better security features that are more suited for them?

And if they mean they want to save costs and avoid the BB Enterprise Server access fee, why didn't they switch to Android and iOS much earlier? Am I missing something here?

Most likely the timing of the switch is a function of budget cycles for the respective entity. Also, they tend to buy in bulk to maximize quantity discounting. A bulk purchase generally requires a separate budget request, and, and, and. Sales cycles for government procurements are on the order of 18+ months (more like 24 to 30 months for U.S. government agencies). The cycle can be shortened a little bit if year-end money is available, but everyone in the agency is fighting for the year-end funds.

Having to pay full freight to replace the Bold 9900 that a frustrated user bounced off the nearest cement block wall in frustration when the phone decided to do a full reboot in the middle of an emergency response call? I saw a similar situation. A friend was out of the office on a conference call discussing a $10 million contract add-on and their Bold 9930 went into a full reboot (~5 minutes where the phone is not usable at all). After they calmed down, I loaned them my GS III to complete the call. When the call was done, we went directly to the VZW store and they paid full freight for a GS III. If I had loaned them an iP5, they would have purchased the iP5. The Bold 9930 was that bad of an experience.

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